Sir, – Justin McCarthy, editor of the Irish Farmers Journal, asserts that competition among retailers has forced down the price of a chicken to €3 ("No winners as supermarkets sell €3 chickens", Opinion & Analysis, October 7th). He writes that "the move sees an Irish chicken, produced to the highest standards in the world, now with a similar price point to a cup of coffee or a large chocolate bar".
If the standard practice of raising thousands of chickens in windowless sheds in an industrialised and mechanised system that pushes their bodies to the absolute limit, and routinely beyond, qualifies as the highest standards in the world, God save us all, and especially the chickens.
The modern broiler chicken is no more than a conveyor-belt product. The fact that the poor unfortunate birds are raised in such appalling circumstances (yes, this is my view but it is shared by every animal welfare specialist I know) is both shameful and immoral.
The intensive system of production is the primary reason the birds can be sold for as little as €3.
My advice to consumers? Spend your €3 on a fair trade coffee or bar of chocolate and leave the factory-farmed chicken on the supermarket shelf. – Yours, etc,
GERRY BOLAND,
Keadue,
Co Roscommon.